Those are also statements of Personal Belief...not the belief in what this country should do in regards to religion. Personal belief and professional or political beliefs (for lack of a better term) can be completely different. For instance, one can be very much against abortion on a personal level, but also be very pro-choice politically. You can state their personal beliefs all day, but that has very little to do with their professional or political beliefs when it came to the founding of this country. Ben Franklin was a devout Quaker, many were Episcopalian (or Catholic lite as I like to call it), many were protestants...pretty much all believed in Christian doctrine and faith, yet none saw fit to include God (with a capital G as was the proper way of addressing the Christian deity at the time), Jesus, Jehovah, etc in the language of the DOI or Constitution. Instead they choose to use generic language like Creator, affirming that yes, we were a religious people and that religion is very important to most, but the government will remain neutral in that belief in order to truly allow for religious freedom, by not supporting a single faith over another...allowing for each man to worship his creator as he sees fit (to borrow from the approximate language that Jefferson used). So were there Christians involved in the foundation of our country? Certainly. Did they feel that they needed to impose their beliefs on everyone and found the US as a Christian nation? No.
Eric -----Original Message----- From: Jerry Barnes [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2010 11:25 AM To: cf-community Subject: Re: Israel attacks and kills peace activists in international waters. "What this means is that, yes, we have a Christian stone or three in the foundation of this nation. That's a big difference from being 'built on Christianity'." Now that is a great statement to examine. Obviously, we are not built on Christianity in terms of a theocracy. The question is, did the founding fathers, being predominantly Protestant, assume Christian principles and ideals should be a continuing influence on the government or a guiding force for the government? Of course, in order to debate the question, one has to assume the founding fathers were predominantly Protestant which some have a problem with. With quotes like the following (and many more) I do not believe that the Constitution was the offspring of inspiration, but I am as satisfied that it is as much the work of a Divine Providence as any of the miracles recorded in the Old and New Testament -- Benjamin Rush The blessing and protection of Heaven are at all times necessary but especially so in times of public distress and danger. The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier, defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country. -- George Washington The great pillars of all government and of social life [are] virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone, that renders us invincible -- Patrick Henry This is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family. The religion of Christ can give them one which will make them rich indeed. -- Patrick Henry it is easy to see why one could believe so. J === The welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants. - Albert Camus ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:320716 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
